Originally Posted By Mr X ***If I got nasty with the police in my own home do they have the right to arrest me*** No. ***I had the FBI in my home once. They asked me a ton of questions. I never once got nasty even though I knew all along that they were questioning the wrong guy.*** That was your choice. You would've also had the right to tell them to get the hell off of your property, and additionally tell them that they could go to hell. They still wouldn't have had the right to arrest you.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Dubh...I'm ok with a President or any leader changing his position on an issue with cause. I'd have had more respect for Bush if he would have realized his errors, come clean and changed course of action with several issues. As for X...I've seen that side and in some cases his "victims" have brought it on. I don't think I have done so and I have tried to be forthright through this whole discussion. I've looked at the "contacts" page. I don't think it is of any use for what I'm trying to get at so I will send my questions directly to the White House and see what kind of response I get. When I get that response I'll share it here.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Dubh...I'm ok with a President or any leader changing his position on an issue with cause. I'd have had more respect for Bush if he would have realized his errors, come clean and changed course of action with several issues.*** Please don't feed the troll. ***I've looked at the "contacts" page. I don't think it is of any use for what I'm trying to get at so I will send my questions directly to the White House and see what kind of response I get. When I get that response I'll share it here.*** Very interested to hear about it. Another option would be to call your local representatives office (if nothing else, to complain if you get no info from the White House). Good luck with that. I certainly hope you get the info you are looking for! If you reach a dead end, I'll be more than happy to acknowledge (regretfully) that our government sucks. (I'm pretty much on the edge of feeling that way anyway, so it's hardly a leap for me...but I'm trying to be optimistic!)
Originally Posted By wahooskipper FWIW...I read the police report and it doesn't sound like the Professor was arrested until he came out to the police car to ask for the officer's name and badge number. So, I guess technically, he was no longer on private property.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Here is an intersting side note: In 1993 this officer (Crowley) was a first reponder when Celtics star Reggie Lewis suffered a fatal heart attack. At that time Crowley stated, "I wasn't working on a black man. I was working on another human being." Doesn't mean he wasn't a party to racial profiling in this case...but thought it was an interesting sidenote to the story in any event.
Originally Posted By DAR <<That said, I was a little disappointed at times myself last night. He needs to roll up his sleeves and get tough. His soft touch has become tiresome. He's dealing with absolutely unscrupulous people who merrily label anything he does socialism and who gladly put their own political gains ahead of the American people.>> Welcome to being President Mr. Obama.
Originally Posted By queenbee <<FWIW...I read the police report and it doesn't sound like the Professor was arrested until he came out to the police car to ask for the officer's name and badge number. So, I guess technically, he was no longer on private property.>> Now I'm confused. If he was arrested in the street or on the public sidewalk, how did he end up on his porch in handcuffs?
Originally Posted By Sara Tonin <<At that time Crowley stated, "I wasn't working on a black man. I was working on another human being." >> It says alot that he felt he had to even mention the citizen's race...what does that have to do with anything? Aren't we supposed to have the services of the police and fire departments applied evenly?
Originally Posted By mele <<FWIW...I read the police report and it doesn't sound like the Professor was arrested until he came out to the police car to ask for the officer's name and badge number. So, I guess technically, he was no longer on private property.>> So, the cop was in his car and the professor was not under arrest UNTIL the professor came out and implied that he was going to file a report against the cop?
Originally Posted By Sara Tonin And since when is it wrong to ask for a policeman's name and badge #? I thougth it was mandatory that if someone asked for that information that the officer had to identify themselves. And by not answering that seems to me that the officer already knew he was in the wrong.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <That said, I was a little disappointed at times myself last night. He needs to roll up his sleeves and get tough. His soft touch has become tiresome.> I know exactly where you're coming from, ecdc, but I think it's probably still the best approach for him for now, in public. In private, he may have to do some more arm-twisting and get all "LBJ" on some members of his own party. Or at least have Rahm Emanuel do it.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I'm just telling you what the report said. I wasn't there, none of you were there and the President wasn't there. One or more cops were there but it sounds like there were no independent witnesses. As for the President...I'm not writing him off because of this whole thing. I just think he was less than Presidential with the way he weighed in. Other Presidents (some recently) have done far worse but I don't think it is wrong to point out what I believe was bad judgment.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom This is what WBZ 38 Boston had to say on the matter of "Saying Something Stupid". <a href="http://pod08.prospero.com/n/blogs/blog.aspx?webtag=wbz_keller" target="_blank">http://pod08.prospero.com/n/bl...z_keller</a> <<Uh-oh. That statement tonight by the president, who admitted right before making it that he didn't "know all the facts" - including the key one, whether or not race was even a factor - may have been the heartfelt opinion of a Gates pal. But it's going to look awfully imprudent - even "stupid" - if subsequent facts undercut it. We still haven't heard word one from the officer who busted Gates. And if the professor insists on continuing to flog this story like there's no tomorrow - apparently despite the best advice of the lawyers who quickly forged that joint "let's-drop-the-whole-thing" statement with the Cambridge cops - it seems likely there will be further fact-finding, perhaps in a Gates civil suit against the city, perhaps in a slander suit against Gates by the cop, perhaps both.>>
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Meanwhile the arresting Officer has decided to speak today. <a href="http://wbztv.com/local/obama.comment.cambridge.2.1097782.html" target="_blank">http://wbztv.com/local/obama.c...782.html</a> <<"Mister Gates was given plenty of opportunities to stop what he was doing. He didn't. He acted very irrational he controlled the outcome of that event." "There was a lot of yelling, there was references to my mother, something you wouldn't expect from anybody that should be grateful that you were there investigating a report of a crime in progress, let alone a Harvard University professor." According to the police report, Crowley asked Gates to talk outside, to which he responded "Yeah, I'll speak with your mama outside.">>
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>According to the police report, Crowley asked Gates to talk outside, to which he responded "Yeah, I'll speak with your mama outside."<< Later, the officer and Gates exchanged a few "That's what she said" jokes, shook hands and parted ways. (That's how it would have ended if I ran the universe.)
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Meanwhile the Press is responding. <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2009/07/23/boston-globe-scrubs-henry-louis-gates-arrest-report-website" target="_blank">http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p...-website</a> <<Boston Globe Scrubs Henry Louis Gates Arrest Report From Website The top American black scholar Henry Louis Gates has been arrested after accusing police officers of “racism” when they demanded that he prove his identity in his own home near Harvard. Sounds shocking, doesn’t it? The Boston Globe has an account of this complicated incident, which seems to have begun when the professor locked himself out of his house. It portrays Gates as the injured party, handcuffed and taken into custody for (Gates implies) the crime of being a black man. Hmm. The self-important Gates, who runs Harvard’s African-American research centre, has never been slow to allege racism. And the fact that he now faces a charge of disorderly conduct is presented by his supporters as proof of police discrimination. I won’t comment, except to say: read the police report, which the Globe supplies here in pdf format. [Not any longer, it seems.] It’s absolutely fascinating. It doesn’t just depict Gates playing the race card; it describes him flinging a whole pack of 52 race cards at the officers. And it doesn’t surprise me one bit.>>
Originally Posted By wahooskipper If people were gathering in the street it could certainly be considered a public disturbance and if warnings to that effect went unanswered you have the result you had. Again, I'm really not trying to take sides. In reality the Professor was probably stupid to a degree and the cops were probably stupid to a degree. I just don't think the President should be taking sides...particuarly with the words he chose.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Tom, "newsbusters" is a right wing opinion site. Not really a viable news source.
